


Liberté

by La Mère Duchesne (musamihi)



Category: Scarlet Pimpernel - Orczy
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-28
Updated: 2010-03-28
Packaged: 2017-10-08 09:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musamihi/pseuds/La%20M%C3%A8re%20Duchesne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chauvelin and his undue optimism.  Drabble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liberté

The deafening clack of the tumbril rolling into the square ceased abruptly. There was a gratifyingly cheerful murmur in the crowd on this frigid, grey January morning. Chauvelin himself wore just the faintest of smiles beneath his tightly-wrapped scarf.

The new year's, new day's sun glinted off the blade. A few minutes later, it came down in a sharp, ringing blow that separated the past from the future, that said to all the world: _here is your new beginning; the evils of the past are vanquished; the war is won; and you are free._

It had been a long, a tedious, a nerve-wracking, a bloody and painful fight. But it was over. From where he was standing he couldn't see the blood running onto the ground, of course, but he would have given anything to be able to dip his hands in it and wash all the years away. A silly gesture, perhaps, more appropriate to some of his more dramatic colleagues. A well-deserved nap would have to be good enough for him.

He turned out of the square with one final glance, so full of relief, at the frame of the guillotine, the insignificant half-man left cold and still and drained atop it. And then he went home to rest, because, finally, it had all ended.


End file.
